Democrats Lead G.O.P. In an Early Money Race

By ADAM CLYMER

Published: March 7, 1998

WASHINGTON, March 6—
Democrats have taken a surprising, strong early lead over Republicans in raising money to contest open Congressional seats, the House seats most likely to change hands, Federal Election Commission records show.

Reports for 1997, the biggest non-election year in fund-raising history, show that in the open districts, where no one will have the advantage of incumbency, the typical Democrat raised $119,514 and still had $94,134 on hand on Dec. 31. The typical Republican in those districts raised $80,493 and had $42,557 on hand.

With Democrats needing a net gain of 11 seats to take back control of the House, party leaders urged candidates to start raising money at home early. They were told this was necessary as insurance against two predictable Republican advantages: more money from political action committees and more party money.

The fund-raising is also an illustration of the virtually uncontrolled money race developing in American politics, as the post-Watergate campaign finance legislation of the 1970's becomes increasingly irrelevant.

Representative Martin Frost of Texas, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said today that instead of making the usual post-election cutbacks, ''we made a strategic decision in January of 1997 to keep the staff level at the level it had been in 1996.

''We did it so we could go out and recruit candidates and teach them to start raising money.''

The committee's staff members typically spend a week or two with new candidates helping them develop fund-raising plans.

Ed Brookover, who directs the National Republican Campaign Committee, said today he was satisfied with fund-raising efforts by his party's candidates, and said his committee has far more money on hand than Mr. Frost's. He said Republicans had $4.2 million at the end of the year. Dan Sallick, a spokesman for the Democrats' committee, said his group had $1.7 million.

Thirty-one seats will have no incumbent running in November; 16 of them are now held by Republicans, 8 of whom arrived in the 1994 landslide, and 15 by Democrats. The open seats are the first tier of battlegrounds for this fall's election.

Democratic challengers have also taken Mr. Frost's advice to heart, with similar though less dramatic effect. The typical Democrat trying to oust a Republican raised $51,290 and had $23,565 on hand by Dec. 31; the typical Republican challenger had raised $30,353 and had $12,064 left.

In a couple of cases, Democrats will be using most of the money against each other. In New York's Ninth District, for example, four candidates had at least $100,000 each on hand to battle for the nomination to succeed Representative Charles E. Schumer. In Kentucky's Sixth District, a district that either party could win, five Democrats (and one Republican) had more than $140,000 each on hand to battle in the May primary.

But the party figures cited are medians, meaning that half the candidates in each party had raised more, and half less. In examining campaign finance records, medians are considered more reliable measures than averages because they are immune from distortions caused by a handful of candidates who may raise several million dollars.

Kent Cooper, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics and for many years the head of the Federal Election Commission's public records office, said the figures showed that more Democratic candidates than usual had established their fund-raising credentials early.

''By the time they come to Washington, like right now, and start working the national PAC's, they'll look good,'' Mr. Cooper said, and get more help than they would have without such efforts.

No one argues that early fund-raising wins elections, but a late start often loses them, and the Election Commission figures show several swing districts where the Democratic contenders have established themselves financially.

There are five seats being vacated by Republicans in which one or more Democrats had more than $100,000 on hand on Dec. 31, and only one of those seats, the Fourth District in Kentucky, is considered likely to go to a Republican in November. In Nevada's First District, Washington's Third and Wisconsin's First and Second, the Democratic fund-raising edge has made their chances no worse than even.

On the other side, it is only in Kentucky's Sixth District that a Republican contender has more than $100,000 on hand in a seat now held by a Democrat. But that Republican, former State Representative Ernest Fletcher, has raised less money than four Democrats vying for the seat have raised.

Among all challengers, Carl J. Mayer, a Democrat running in central New Jersey's 12th District, had the most cash on hand. He had $505,738, compared with $139,736 for Michael Pappas, the freshman Republican incumbent.

Republicans rank second and third among challengers for cash on hand, but the trouble for their party is that they are challenging an incumbent Republican in the May primary. He is Representative Jon D. Fox of Pennsylvania's 13th District, which includes wealthy Philadelphia suburbs. The Republican challengers Jonathan H. Newman and Melissa M. Brown had $379,354 and $285,022, respectively, on hand, and Mr. Fox had $108,627. Joseph Hoeffel, the Democrat whom Mr. Fox defeated by 84 votes in 1996, had $92,615.